Top Ten Bestselling Crestock Contributors

Have you ever wondered who the most popular contributors at Crestock are? Well, you no longer need to wonder, here is our presentation of them!

1st place: Kirsty Pargeter

1736 sales | 1985 uploads

I do a lot of research and put a lot of time and effort into my images which hopefully shows in the end result.» kirstypargeter

Kirsty just doesn't seem to stop, she's hard working to say the least. Constantly working on research or putting together a funky swirly pattern or some insanely detailed 3D model, Kirsty has been freelancing for 1½ years, and she's reaping the fruits of her dedicated labour. Hard work, knowledge of her tools and a good sense of what's "in" is what racks up the sales for Kirsty Pargeter, Crestock's best selling artist.

2nd place: Yuri Arcurs

1571 sales | 3236 uploads

I try to create high quality, simplistic, colorful and iconic pictures. Pictures I would use myself when designing.» Yuri_Arcurs

Extremely thorough with technical details, you'll be hard pressed to find a photo with slighly missed focus or a spot of dust in Yuri's mammoth portfolio. He's cracked the code on making a (comfortable) living out of microstock, with an even mix of "shiny happy people" and various other subjects, such as real estate, scenic vistas and isolated roses. Of course, none of this would have been possible, were it not for his dedication to research, technical quality, and plain hard work. Read more about his methods and workflow at his personal website.

3rd place: Elena Elisseeva

675 sales | 1822 uploads

My images are selling well because most of them have very simple composition, so they look good and clear even when resized to a thumbnail size.» Elenathewise

Looking through her portfolio (which incidentaly is also the third largest at Crestock), you'll notice two things. First, you'll notice that she seems to be the kind of photographer that carries her camera everywhere, with a portfolio covering a wide range of topics, all with a distincly natural look to them. Second, if you compare her older photos to her more recent work, there's a noticeable increase in the quality of her photos, with better colours, lighting and compostion, while still retaining the very natural look of her photos.

4th place: Mikael Damkier

485 sales | 558 uploads

I am extremely self-critical of my work, I believe the quality of my portfolio as a whole is what will have a first time customer return to me for new images. I emphasise a clean composition and good lighting in my photos, which I hope gives my portfolio a distinctive look.» mikdam

With an extreme attention to detail, Mikael (known as Micke to his friends) isn't the most productive of Crestock photographers, but his modest output is always quality stuff. He seems to be the kind of photographer who can shoot pretty much anything, and end up with a top notch result. With extensive previous work experience as a professional photographer earlier in life, he was until recently a construction worker, but having had enough of his vile boss, he quit, and is now back working full time as a photographer, a choice everyone here at Crestock applauds.

5th place: Lev Dolgatchov

406 sales | 574 uploads

Even when I shoot 100% business stuff I still do my best to produce art.» dolgachov

Featuring beautiful women (babes) in most of his photos, what sets Lev's images apart from the rest, is his skill at working with his models to get them to open up in the photos, resulting in photos with a genuine look, accompanied by good, sometimes experimental lighting.

6th place: Gudmund Aarseth

354 sales | 753 uploads

Being a grapic designer in addition to (pretending to be) a photographer, I guess gives me a good insight into what a customer would need in an image.» gudmund

Exclusive at Crestock, Gudmund is, among other things, inhouse designer at the agency, a jack-of-many-trades, Gudmund is also a talented photographer. While his themes and subjects are many and varied, there often seems to be something unusual with the lighting in Gudmund's photos, be it a slight blast of strong light in the upper right corner, or an ominous darkness.

7th place: Leah-Anne Thompson

341 sales | 915 uploads

My images are clean, sharp and cover a wide range of topics as well as locations, which I think is much of the reason why I sell.» lovleah

Customers like photos with people in them, something Leah seems to be aware of. In a portfolio just shy of 900 approved photos, only a handful shows inanimate objects. Well lit photos with friendly people in various situations is what characterises Leah Thompson's photos.

8th place: Bjørn Erik Rygg Lunde

265 sales | 628 uploads

I'm new to stock photography, and I've got a lot to learn, but I think my best selling point is the quality of my "people photos", and this is what I intend to work more on.» storm

Another Crestock exclusive, Bjørn Erik has been with us from the very beginning, submitting photos of just about everything from reindeer and clouds to isolated photos of puppies and musicians. When he isn't shooting stock for Crestock, Bjørn Erik runs around photographing people in the news, rampaging moose or other newsworthy stories for Pressefoto, the press photo agency he runs.

9th place: Andres Rodriguez

243 sales | 646 uploads

My images sell because the images try to convey original concepts in a clear and simple manner.» andresr

Fairly new at Crestock, the world's best selling microstock photographer "only" makes 9th place in this list. Providing what could be described as "hardcore stock photos", Andres focuses on images that are always in demand, businessmen shaking hands, golfballs, computers and the likes, all done with a very simple composition that means any one image could be used for a variety of purposes. Andres is invariably described as one of the kindest, most pleasant people in the microstock industry, something Tormod at Crestock could wholeheartedly agree to after being dispatched to write this interview.

10th place: Daniel Sroga

234 sales | 485 uploads

In addition to their bright and colourful look, Daniel's photos can be recognized by the beautiful models that he works with. Throw elements such as cellphones, tea cups and hair brushes into the mix to give the photos a sales angle, and you've got the thoroughly good looking portfolio of Daniel Sroga.

Comments:

Men rule out here. There are 7 men as opposed to 3 women in this Top 10 list. The mini profiles and the accompanying interviews of some is a good idea for the rest of us to get started and make it to this page. Hoping these dudes are as helpful when someone like me writes to them asking for their critiques and suggestions on my photos. I am sure they would. That's the Crestock motto too!

Having looked through many portfolios on this site it underlines the comments from most that hard work a true understanding of the subject matter and what "stock" really means will pay in time. Some rejection is never a pleasant experience and as I have just joined I am well aware from my peers what I must aim for on the exiting and rather wonderful stock site.